Ollie Aims To Get Huskies In Fast-Break Shape

STORRS — The Huskies spent much of their first practice running, and the rest of it wrestling for rebounds. It was a grueling 31/2 hours, but there was, as always, a purpose.

"We want to be a better fast-breaking team than we were last year," coach Kevin Ollie said. "We want to get more easy buckets. We don't have a Shabazz [Napier] that's going to bail us out with 35-footers at the end of the shot clock. … We want to run a little more, get our athletes out in space where they can create for themselves and others."

The fast-break starts with rebounding, an area in which there is always room for improvement. The new nature of the Huskies personnel, six months after leaving Texas with the national championship trophy, will dictate different approaches on offense.

Last season, UConn (32-8) was among the better three-point shooting teams in the nation. They made 287 of 741 attempts, or 38.7 percent, ranking 27th in NCAA Division I — Creighton was first at 41.4 percent. Their 741 attempts ranked 35th, and the 287 made ranked 18th.

Much of that production, 72.6 percent of the attempts and 77 percent of the makes, came from Shabazz Napier, Niels Giffey, DeAndre Daniels, Lasan Kromah and others who have since moved on. Giffey, who made 58 of 120 three-point attempts, and Daniels (50 for 120) forced defenses to stretch.

"That's probably the first time in history a big man has won," coach Kevin Ollie said after Brimah, the 7-foot, 230-pound sophomore finished first among the players, completing the 3.4-mile race...

"We lost a lot of great shooters," Ollie said. "Everybody knows that. DeAndre, Niels and Shabazz were our best three-point shooters. Those guys are gone, so we're going to have some other people step up. They're very capable in this gym. I like my team. I like how hard they're playing. I like how they're competing."

The new-look Huskies will have Ryan Boatright, Rodney Purvis, Sam Cassell Jr. and Terrence Samuel in the back court, with Omar Calhoun and Daniel Hamilton at the wing. There may be times UConn plays both Amida Brimah and Phil Nolan in the front court, a big lineup, and times when they use a three- or even four-guard look.

"We have a lot of different guards," said Purvis, who transferred from North Carolina State and had to sit out last season. "Guards with different dimensions to their game, so we can always switch things up. Sam is a really good shooter, me and Terrence [Samuel] are faster, quicker guards along with 'Boat.' Speeding the game up. Omar is shooting the ball really, really well. So we have a lot of options."

Hamilton, the freshman from Los Angeles, said, "I like playing fast, but in control. Just getting after it. It'll be exciting for us to play fast and put a lot of points on the board and also get stops. If we get stops, we're going to get points. We've got enough talent to get points."

Among returning Huskies, Boatright (44-for-117) and Omar Calhoun (19-for-79) are experienced three-point threats. If Calhoun, a junior trying to come back from an injury-marred season, can regain the shooting form of his freshman season (49 for 134), it could give the Huskies the perimeter threat they need to open the floor that much more. They excelled in scoring off timeouts last season, but Ollie wants the offense to be more fluid — he always envisions "position-less" UConn players and teams.

"I don't want to draw up a lot of plays," he said. "I can if I need to, but I want us to use our athleticism. That's my dream — to have four guys who can get it off the rebound and 'let's go, let's push it, let's play fast break basketball.' … That's what I'm recruiting for, so hopefully I have the type of team that can possibly do that. We were close last year, when we had the three point guards and a couple of forwards that were able to push it."

First practices under Ollie, like those under Jim Calhoun, are famous for their grueling nature, but the newcomers, freshmen Rakim Lubin, who is 6-8 and 265 pounds, Hamilton (6-7, 190) and junior college transfer Sam Cassell Jr. (6-4, 192) came through it on their feet.

"The new guys handled it well," Boatright said. "Probably the hardest practice they've ever been a part of and they pushed through it. They were extremely tired, exhausted, but they never gave up; they gave 110 percent all day."

Lubin struggled to finish the Husky Run on Wednesday, but he has followed the coaches' admonition to get in better shape. He said he's comfortably moving at 265 and will look to maintain it. Lubin can be a load for his teammates to handle in rebounding drills, but Ollie exhorted him to stay aggressive.

"Coach thought I was going too soft against my teammates," Lubin said. "But I didn't want to hurt anybody. Once he told me if I didn't go harder against my teammates I was going to have to run, I went in there and got rebounds."

Cassell said he was surprised by the intensity of practice, but seemed exhilarated by it. "We get after it," he said. "From the start to the finish. This is what UConn does, and I'm ready for it."

Hamilton said, "It was exciting, intense. I just learned coming from high school to college, I can't take any plays off. Somebody's always looking at you; can't take anything for granted. Going through it, it's like, man, you can't give up. You keep going through it, even if you've got nothing in the tank. You got to step into your second gear and keep pushing."

Ollie gave props to strength/conditioning coach Travis Illian and athletic trainer James Doran for getting the team into good condition. Though the Huskies have been playing pickup games in the new $40 million facility, they began in the spartan surroundings of Guyer gym, then finished at Gampel on Saturday.

"It just signifies that it's time to get to it," Boatright said. "We got all the new stuff and we got Gampel, but once you get over to Guyer, you know you're earning everything. It's hot, no AC over there, man, Guyer's a trip. It's a trip. It's like 100 degrees. No baskets. Didn't touch a ball the whole time we were over there, two hours, all running. I walked in, I was like, 'Where the balls at? Oh, man, we're in trouble.'"

Said Ollie: "We really had to compete in our minds today. That's what I told them, the battlefield is in your mind most of the time. If you can get through your mind telling you to stop, telling you it's time to give in, you won the battle. Everybody made it through, and that's what we want."